Boxing: Burns batters Mitchell to a bruising defeat

Ricky Burns defended his WBO lightweight belt for the second time when stopping Kevin Mitchell in the fourth round in Glasgow. Burns was at his most impressive in front of a packed, partisan crowd as he made it 20 wins in a row against the Dagenham fighter, who was sent crashing to the canvas twice before the referee Terry O'Connor stepped in to prevent further punishment.

Mitchell, the former British and Commonwealth superfeatherweight champion, admitted defeat would force him to consider hanging up his gloves and Burns, with this superb performance, may well have confirmed that decision.

The 29-year-old Scot arguably put in the best performance of his career and looks like he is ready to mix it with the best at this weight.

Both fighters traded punches, and good punches, to the delight of the fans with the Scot getting the cheers when the first round ended, as his supporters sensed something special was about to unfold.

Strong and forceful, the champion had Mitchell up against the ropes a couple of times in the second round and one right hand in particular appeared to rock the challenger to his toes. Burns looked too powerful, especially when he sent in thumping right hands which brought the crowd to a near-frenzy and his combinations invariably had the Englishman back-tracking.

Mitchell, slowly sapped of belief and energy, found it all too much in round four. He was battered to the ground with a left and right combination from Burns and when he recovered he was down again with a big right. Burns moved in to finish off the contest with a barrage of blows that brought O'Connor's intervention. PA

Superbikes: Sykes secures pole

Tom Sykes bagged his eighth pole of the season with a dominant display in qualifying for Sunday's World Superbike races at Portimão. The British Kawasaki rider posted a lap record of 1min 41.415sec to once again underline his reputation as the king of one-lap pace in the series. Sykes sits third in the riders' standings, 26.5 points behind the championship leader, Max Biaggi, who will start fifth for Aprilia. BMW Motorrad's Marco Melandri, who is just 9.5 points shy of his fellow Italian Biaggi in the standings, will start from fourth place and reigning champion Carlos Checa will start second for Althea Ducati after posting a time three tenths slower than Sykes.PA